Shown above is the main sactuary at St. Clement’s Parish in Saratoga Springs.
Joseph Phelan -- jphlean@digitalfirstmedia.com

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.>> Hundreds are expected to gather at St. Clement’s Parish Oct. 17 to celebrate 100 years as a church community.

Over the past century, the parish has impacted countless individuals. Bernice McLellan is one.

McLellan arrived from Rome (Oneida County) in 1990 for a midwife job in Saratoga Springs. Her husband, an early retired Air Force veteran, and five children stayed in Central New York for a little bit, leaving McLellan to go church shopping herself. Her family had been active in their parish in Rome, so this was an important step in validating if she made the right decision to move to a new area.

She went to a couple different places, and then she met Father Kevin Milton C.Ss.R. at St. Clement’s.

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“I said, you know, I’m looking for a place where I can be involved but where I also can be nourished because it’s not easy being Christian sometimes. And he said, ‘how can we help?’” said McLellan. “And I thought this is a very novel way to do this. Several other pastors said what can you do for me? Basically he said, what can we do for you? And that pulled me in.”

Even though McLellan chose to worship at St. Clement’s, she was still uneasy.

“When you’ve spent all of your married life in one church with one church family and you know everybody, I was a little overwhelmed,” said McLellan. “I really didn’t know anybody. And so the first mass I came to I came in the back of the church and I sat in the back. [I thought] ‘maybe we are making a mistake, is this the right place for us to be?’” And the lady next to me, leaned over and said, ‘you’re new here, welcome!’”

The following week she felt even more comfortable at St. Clement’s.

“They had a retreat and I went away for the weekend with probably 150 people from the parish and that sealed my fate. When you get to the retreat center and people you don’t know are clapping and welcoming you in. It’s a very good feeling. And the priest who did the retreat said something, for me, very wise,” said McLellan. “He said, ‘we are here to help you, but God expects you to pick up whatever tasks he sets before you and do the very best you can.’ He said, ‘sometimes you do a really good job and sometimes you don’t do a really good job but that’s alright because you loves you anyhow.’”

Shortly after the retreat, her family joined her in Saratoga Springs and McLellan has volunteered in the parish ever since.

“[It’s] a celebration of longevity, but also in gratitude for the Redemptorists who came here and have supported the school and supported Christian outreach,” said McLellan. “The Redemptorists have a mission to the poor, so this a parish that a lot of what they bring in collections goes out to support the school, to provide scholarships for students who cannot afford Catholic education. We have a very active food pantry.”

McLellan, who has also worked with the pastor Father George Blasick, C.Ss.R. with the anniversary mass, didn’t know what to expect as coordinator.

“Like anything else, when you volunteer for something sometimes you don’t get the whole gist of what’s going to be involved. I was involved with doing the banner out in front [of the Church,] and I worked with the man at A Broadway Banner & Flag Co. in Gansevoort. I said we are having our 100th anniversary and I would like a banner for the front and I’d like something around the front part of the church. We worked together. He drew up a plan. I brought it to the pastoral council, and they approved. I went back to him,” said McLellan. “[I asked,] how much is this going to cost? He cut the cost in half, and ask that we dedicate to a friend of his who had just died of cancer. People are good. People are really good.”

The dinner Monday night expects at least 160 people. It costs $50 a person, which can be tough during these trying times. McLellan, however, has witnessed just how compassionated the parishioners at St. Clement’s are.

“$50 is a lot of money for some people. And I can’t tell you how many people either were going or couldn’t go but donated money to pay for people to come to the dinner who wanted to go but didn’t have the money,” said McLellan. “That’s what Christianity is all about.”